1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording material. More particularly, the present invention relates to an ink jet recording material for recording colored images and pictures with an aqueous ink.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, it is possible to record clear images having excellent print quality due to significant developments in ink jet color printers useful for preparing colored image hard copies at a high speed. On the other hand, to further improve the quality, saturation, appearance and clarity of the printed colored images, a new recording material having an improved performance is demanded. Especially, due to the required printing speed, resolving property, and saturation of the colored images, the recording material must have further improved performance for rapidly drying the ink, a high ink-receiving capacity, a good dot size-regulating property and a good ink blotting-inhibition property. Accordingly, various ink jet recording sheets having an ink receiving layer formed on a surface of a support sheet and provided with improved performance have been developed. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 56-148,584 discloses an ink jet recording material having an ink receiving layer formed on a surface of a support and containing porous inorganic pigment particles, for example, natural zeolite, synthetic zeolite, diatomaceous earth, fine particulate silicic acid and synthetic mica pigment particles which are capable of absorbing coloring matter on the surfaces of the particles.
However, the above-mentioned type of ink jet recording material is disadvantageous in that the porous inorganic pigment particles allow the ink absorbed in the resultant ink receiving layer to diffuse and thus cause the recorded ink images to blot or spread.
To solve the above-mentioned problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 58-94491 proposes to add a weak acid salt of a divalent metal into the ink receiving layer, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-234,268 proposes to add a quaternary ammonium salt compound into the ink receiving layer, and Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 7-67,852 proposes to use a fluorine-containing pigment particles for the ink receiving layer.
However, the ink jet recording sheets disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 58-94,491 and No. 6-234,268 and Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 7-67,852 are disadvantageous in that since the support sheet is formed from a paper sheet comprising, as a main component, pulp fibers having a high water-absorption, when the ink receiving layer is formed from a coating liquid containing a binder resin, the binder resin is absorbed in the support sheet, and thus, after drying, the resultant ink receiving layer exhibits a low mechanical strength and is thus easily disintegrated and the ink applied to the ink receiving layer further penetrates into the support and causes the printed recording sheet to become rough.
When a plastic film is used as a support sheet, since the plastic film absorbs no ink, the ink is absorbed only in the ink receiving layer. If the ink receiving layer is formed in a small amount, the resultant receiving layer exhibits an insufficient absorption capacity for the ink and thus the absorbed ink cannot be held within the ink receiving layer and thus the ink images easily blotted. Also, if the ink receiving layer is formed in a large amount, while the ink image-blotting problem is solved, the resultant ink receiving layer exhibits a decreased peeling resistance from the support sheet and a poor resistance to disintegration.
As mentioned above, while various attempts have been made to improve the ink jet recording sheets, the resultant ink jet recording sheets are not yet satisfactory in ink blotting resistance, color clarity of recorded images and surface strength of the ink receiving layer.